To arrive at the present educational system from the past decades and centuries has called for and demanded a lot of work. We are now in an era of innovation in education. The problem though is that the world around us is changing so rapidly that minor innovation will not suffice. We need to look at radical changes that need to be made, yet we should be cautious not to change the basic fabric of education and that is to "Prepare Children for Life".

Principals today need to put on their innovation caps and come up with ways to tackle the new emerging issues that seem to crop every now and then. Let me elaborate my point bearing in mind a few of the key issues faced by schools - teacher quality and school infrastructure.

I live in Bangalore and its Business Outsourcing Process (BPO) industry has shown the country a phenomenal method of creating an army of employees who are nurtured to service clients from different parts of the globe with different cultures and accents. If schools can take a leaf out of the BPO industry it would do wonders to the perennial problem of identifying, training and retaining staff. It is a great idea to study this model and see if its essence can be extrapolated to the schooling environment. Schools should start looking at recruiting people from all kinds of backgrounds. Schools should come up with their own internal training and auditing processes that will enable them to create quality and excellence in teaching. Let's face it! We are not getting good teachers

anymore, so start creating good teachers. An annual
bridging programme or orientation will not do. I am talking about a system where teachers learn every
single day. If a teacher performs teaching duty for 6 hours they should be learning for 2 hours. Think about it!

School infrastructure costs a lot and its usage is limited. Recycle and reuse is the mantra these days. Can your infrastructure follow that? Several schools in Mumbai follow two shifts a day system. Two batches of students get educated using the same infrastructure. This method is financially beneficial and socially relevant. Schools from other cities can adopt this policy instead of cramming the classrooms with more than manageable numbers. Many schools rent out their playgrounds and other facilities occasionally. I am talking about a step further. Can you look at creating adult learning centers or an evening school for the poor neighbourhood children or dance / art / music
institutes? These innovations do not have to necessarily be financially rewarding, they can be socially meaningful.

Innovation has never been so relevant in education as it is today. Get your team together. Re-look at all areas of concern and the ones that are going on well, encourage new innovative thoughts to address them, everything you do can be done better and more effectively. Be bold to try new things, this is the way forward. Make innovation